This conclusion came to me as I began laying out bug spray, Techwick and hiking boots for our upcoming 10-day trip to the Central American mecca of adventure sports. We’re roughly a week away from flying into San Jose, and as I walked into my gear closet, I realized I haven’t actually done much to prepare. I didn’t have to.

Now, Alison and I aren’t being led around by hand as if we’re school-age children on a field trip to a natural history museum. Really, all our tour operator has done/will do is book our hotels, trips and provide transportation, so it’s not as if the proprietor will be hawking over us to keep to some strict daily itinerary. But those details were the logistical rough spots Alison and I encountered when we started planning a Costa Rican honeymoon. And with all the wedding preparations, I doubt seriously we would have been able to plan an independent excursion to a foreign country, particularly an area of the world where we’ve never previously ventured.

I feel like I should be planning something like a car rental or pouring over a map to plot our course, but I don’t have to. And that leaves me feeling hollow, unsettled and … thankful. At least this time around.